Festivals Kelowna
suite 100 1680 Water St V1Y 8T8 Kelowna, BC, Canada

Our office will be closed for the Christmas break from tomorrow (Friday, December 18) to Monday, January 11, 2021. Thank you for your constant support over the past year. We wish you all a very Merry Christmas and happy and prosperous New Year! We are looking forward to bringing great music and art to Kelowna in 2021! Cheers! Renata and Grace

Here is video #3 of the Downtown Kelowna, Uptown Rutland Business Association, and Kelowna Chamber of Commerce "Shop Local" campaign brought to you by TD Benefits. Can you find the Festivals Kelowna special guest... ?

A lovely reminder to support our local businesses this holiday season. Way to go Downtown Kelowna Uptown Rutland Business Association and Kelowna Chamber of Commerce for banding together, and to TD Benefits for supporting the effort. Tough times reveal resilient people

Click this image on our homepage at www.festivalskelowna.com for the job description

VALLEY FIRST NEW YORK NEW YEARS FAMILY EVENT POSTPONED TO 2021 (December 2nd, 2020) - One of Kelowna’s annual winter traditions will be postponed to 2021. In what would have been its 9th year, the "Valley First New York New Years" all-ages friendly celebrations held at Stuart Park and the Kelowna Community Theatre will not be held in 2020. "As disappointed as we are to formally announce the decision, it was rather inevitable, explains Renata ...Mills, Executive Director for Festivals Kelowna, the organization that created and produced the family event since 2012. With the growing attendance we have seen over the years, and the size of the spaces we use, there is no way we could hold the festivities in a responsible, COVID-safe manner. Historically held on December 31st, the annual Valley First New York New Years event was started as a way to bring people of all ages together in celebration of the incoming New Year. Running over a short duration from 6:00 to 9:00 pm, the idea was to allow families to ring in an early New Year with their little ones and then continue with their own celebrations afterwards. Thanks to the generous support of the City of Kelowna and many community business sponsors, the event was always free to attend and featured a variety of indoor and outdoor activities including skating on the outdoor ice rink, drop-in games, craft making, movies on the Kelowna Community Theatre screen, food, giveaways, live music on the outdoor stage, and fireworks at 9:00 pm. Based on the news reports we were seeing, we were quite certain we couldn’t hold our event in the same way this year so we were quietly working on an alternate, seasonal event in lieu of the New Years Eve celebration, shares Ms. Mills. However, with the announcement by Provincial Public Health in late November declaring no events could be held for an extended period of time, we knew we’d have to postpone our plans. We did explore a virtual version of our activities, but frankly, that isn’t what we do. Festivals Kelowna produces live, outdoor events for our community. As such, our staff will simply move our plans into 2021 when it will be much safer to gather once again for community celebrations. After such an upside down year, we are very excited about that prospect. Festivals Kelowna is a local, non-profit organization that produces community focused, arts-based festivals and programs. With a family-friendly approach, we strive to enhance the lifestyle of our residents and visitors through positive cultural experiences in outdoor public spaces.

As we head into the holiday season, we’ve been reflecting on way to spread kindness, love, and holiday cheer. Instead of gathering for events right now, Festiva...ls Kelowna staff will be donating warm clothing items to those who need it most. Because our office is located downtown, we see the daily struggles of many souls in our community who live on the streets. Offering winter essentials is a way for us to help them out! If you also want to help out, what about donating items to the new temporary shelter located at 550 Doyle Ave. Take care of one another. See more

UPDATE: Both pianos have been claimed! Still looking to re-home some of our pianos from the Pianos in Parks program. Please call us at 250-868-3307 if you are interested! Uptown Rutland Business Association Downtown Kelowna

Thank you to all our friends and partners who helped us 'Animate Bernard' this summer!

Knox Mountain neighborhood enjoying 3/4 Crush rockin out on set #2. Love the "bike in" concert vibe and families enjoying in their bubbles Parks Alive! @Remax Kelowna City of Kelowna Valley First Kiwanis Club of Kelowna New Horizon Productions 101.5 EZ Rock Kelowna TELUS Max Power

If you're up for it, Parks Alive! ON TOUR is in the North end tonite, roaming the streets near Knox Mountain between 6-9 featuring the rock 'n roll stylings of ...3/4 Crush. It's our last "Parks Alive! ON TOUR" for this wackadoodles summer. Big thanks to our amazing and generous partners for helping us make it happen! City of Kelowna RE/MAX Kelowna Valley First Kiwanis Club of Kelowna and our ever so flexible-up for any challenge - production team from New Horizon Productions See more

FREE PIANO anyone?! This piano is retiring from the Pianos in Parks program and needs a new home. Painted by the lovely students from RSS, this piano has lots of character! Old pianos are ideal for garden art or indoor art! If you're interested in taking this piano in, please call us at 250-868-3307.

We've added two temporary busk stops to downtown! One is located next to Ogopogo in Kerry Park and the second is located near the Wibit water park in City Park We love to see our buskers from the Kelowna Buskers Program performing at the stops. Please remember to tag us in your pictures and videos! #FestivalsKelowna #KelownaBuskersProgram #ExploreKelowna #KelownaCulture #DowntownKelowna

Seems the Stuart Park piano can't get a break this summer... it is sadly out of commission for the time being, as we work with @keystonemusic1 to get it back in tiptop shape for you all to enjoy. In the meantime, you can visit our other pianos at Queensway bus loop, the Art Walk, outside the Rotary Centre for the Arts and at Roxby Park in Rutland. #FestivalsKelowna #explorekelowna #PianosinParks #kelownaculture

Meet our summer staff! Grace recently graduated with a Political Science degree from Western University, but her roots are in the Okanagan! She's made it her mission to bike to work everyday. Right now, Grace has been jammin' to Taylor Swift's Folklore. You can find our summer staff out and about managing our Pianos in Parks and helping us Animate Bernard each week! ... Thanks Grace for your hard work this summer!

Props to Carli and iNFOnews Kelowna for the nice coverage

So this is a bittersweet day for us at Festivals Kelowna as we say farewell to this amazing young woman, but wish her well on the exiting next chapter of her life. Nicolette Jacques is returning to school to become a teacher, so after 5 years of enthusiastic, diligent, dedicated, thoughtful efforts as a Parks Alive! Program Assistant in 2014, to our Event Minion in 2015 where she helped develop both Pianos in Parks and Arts on the Avenue, to her years as our Program Coordinator from 2017 to 2020, we will miss her smile and her 'get 'er done!' attitude. Join us in wishing Nicolette all the best!

Here's a clip of @TheJamesHayTrio playing for our 'Animate Bernard' series this past weekend! You can find us down on the 400 block of Bernard Avenue (between Pandosy St. and Ellis St.) during the month of August! Tuesdays - 5:00pm to 8:00pm... Saturdays - 1:00pm to 4:00pm Sundays - 1:00pm to 4:00pm Thank you to @remaxkelownarealestate for helping bring live music to our streets! #FestivalsKelowna #ParksAlive #ExploreKelowna #KelownaCulture Video captured by Rolly Rangno

Our Parks Alive! shows on Wednesday, August 5, and Friday, August 7 have been cancelled. We appreciate your continued understanding and support.

Happy British Columbia Day! Hope everyone is enjoying their long weekend out in the sun #BCDay #FestivalsKelowna #PianosInParks #ExploreKelowna

With our community’s safety in mind, this week’s Parks Alive! shows on Wednesday, July 29 and Friday, July 31 have been cancelled. Thank you all for your continued support and understanding as we navigate these times.

A little afternoon music on Bernard Avenue. People are heeding the rules - spread out if you stop, but mostly enjoy as you keep on walking by. Downtown Kelowna ...Thanks to our partners City of Kelowna RE/MAX Government of British Columbia Government of Canada TELUS Kiwanis Club of Kelowna New Horizon Productions See more

Sadly, tonight’s (Friday, July 24) Parks Alive! Blues event has been cancelled. Please note that our decision was made out of caution. We will continue to assess each event to be sure we are acting with the community’s safety in mind.

what a lovely surprise amid all the wackiness of these times. "Celebrate Canada Day- Kelowna" has again been named a winner in the "Best of Kelowna' awards. Thank you Kelowna and thank you to our awesome supporters who help make this great event a reality City of Kelowna TD Bank Kiwanis Club of Kelowna Coast Capital Savings Canadian Heritage Coldwell Banker Horizon Realty Kelowna Folkfest Kelowna City Concert Band Tolko Save-On-Foods Kelowna Cabs Max Power 99.9 SUN FM New Country 100.7 103.1 BEACH Radio 101.5 EZ Rock Kelowna Castanet

What a lovely surprise we received in the mail today from a local Metis artist. Thank you for your kind words and taking the time make us smile Imelda

There's still time to show your support for us and gosh we'd sure appreciate your vote.

Happy Birthday #Canada! While we're sad not to be able to gather this year & enjoy the annual Canada Day festivities put on by Festivals Kelowna, we're happy to... share some Canada Day photos from recent years. A reminder, City Hall is closed Wednesday, July 1. https://www.kelowna.ca//city-cal/canada-day-hours-closures See more

A message from our friends in the City of Kelowna Outdoor Events office: "Animate Bernard Avenue While COVID-19 has limited our opportunities for events, we feel these challenging times call for creative solutions, and we are seeking your help!... Starting June 30, Bernard Avenue will be transformed into a pedestrian friendly corridor where the public will be able to enjoy the many restaurants, entertainment, and shops at a leisurely pace. The 400 block has been dubbed the ‘animation zone’ where we are inviting organizations, community groups and businesses to animate the space in fun and original ways while adhering to provincial and municipal directed COVID-19 guidelines. Whether it’s a performance, sport demo, art installation, fundraiser or other creative activation, we want to hear about it! Contact the Event Services Team at [email protected] or 250-469-8423 to learn more about this unique opportunity."

And now for some MORE good news... we have been given the green light for "Pianos in Parks"!. Coming to a park or walkway near you in the coming weeks, watch for these beautiful, musical works of art. In order to respect the COVID health & safety guidelines please note our modifications this year: Pianos are placed outdoors in fresh air... Physical distancing still allows the audience to enjoy a performance 1. We have reduced the number of pianos throughout Kelowna from 8 to 5 2. We have chosen locations our staff can easily access and maintain o Art Walk o Rotary Centre for the Arts o NEW - Queensway (near public washroom building; maintained in collaboration with People Employment Services) o Stuart Park o Roxby Park (maintained in collaboration with URBA) 3. Increased cleaning of shared surfaces with cleaning and disinfecting 3x a day late morning, mid-afternoon, and early evening 4. Addition of safety-oriented signage o New COVID- minded decals will be placed on the pianos (see picture) o Large ground decals will be placed 6 feet from pianos to encourage proper audience physical distancing 5. Communication with public our staff team will work with the public to participate in a safe manner and observe the COVID guidelines (i.e. listening from 6’ away and not crowding into space near piano)